


DVD Commentary: Lift You Up Over Everything

by kerithwyn, Mona (monanotlisa), samjohnsson



Category: Fringe
Genre: DVD Commentary, Multi, OT3, Polyamory, Threesome - F/M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-01-22
Updated: 2012-01-22
Packaged: 2017-10-29 23:03:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 19,037
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/325154
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kerithwyn/pseuds/kerithwyn, https://archiveofourown.org/users/monanotlisa/pseuds/Mona, https://archiveofourown.org/users/samjohnsson/pseuds/samjohnsson
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>DVD commentary for "Lift You Up Over Everything," in which I explain what doesn't need explaining and Mona and Sam make me look smarter than I am.</p>
            </blockquote>





	DVD Commentary: Lift You Up Over Everything

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Lift You Up Over Everything](https://archiveofourown.org/works/318794) by [kerithwyn](https://archiveofourown.org/users/kerithwyn/pseuds/kerithwyn). 



> Thanks again to Sam for doing the heavy lifting on the coding!

**No idea if anyone's interested in this kind of thing...but I like reading 'em, so I thought I'd give it a shot. Additional comments by Mona (in blue) and Sam (in green).**

 ****  
**Watching "Wallflower" gave me All the Feelings. It took a couple of days for them to gel, and then this fic started spilling out at an alarming rate. It was meant to address the following concerns:**   


  * **the GLASSES and the obvious P/L vibe *g***   

  * **Olivia not showing up at the diner, and Lincoln's reaction to that**   

  * **answering the question of what Nina was up to at the end of "Wallflower"**   

  * **the rumored return of DRJ (some of his dialogue recycled from "Ability")**   

  * **the return of Olivia's powers, sorely needed (triggered by the combination of love and fear)**   

  * **a gratuitous this-side's Frank Stanton cameo :D**



**\-- and, of course, my desire for "threesome will fix everything" fic. Ahem.**

At 3:15 a.m., time seems to slow to a crawl.

Lincoln tries not to look toward the window every ten seconds but finds himself failing miserably. It's clear that Olivia's not coming; she's nothing if not prompt.

The waitress's "Refresh that for you, hon?" has started to sound pitying and that's his cue to get out of here before he's further humiliated. Except--

Odds are, he's got no reason to be. Lincoln remembers the line of pain that creased Olivia's forehead with an impending migraine during the case, and he _knows_ she would have called if she could. Lincoln's only had one migraine in his life, when he was in college and down sick with some kind of horrible 48-hour bug, and during that time he hadn't been able to do anything but lie in a dark room and sob with the pain.

 **Lincoln's experience is pulled from mine. That one migraine was enough for one lifetime; those of you who suffer, I offer sympathy.**

 **IMO, Lincoln would not be mad about Olivia not showing up. Migraines trump a 3 a.m. not-date.**

 **(And he doesn't have the background to be immediately alarmed, either.)**

 **This really put my reader's mind at ease: not just the fact that 'rith purposefully limited the angst, had Lincoln reflect and take into account Olivia's point of view as well as putting himself in her shoes like a mature adult...but also that by doing so she mirrored the show, which generally manages to avoid artificial drama: by having the characters either think or communicate with each other, often both.**

So if that's why Olivia hasn't showed, the last thing she probably wants is a knock on her door at--Lincoln checks his watch--3:24 a.m. in the morning. Given all the coffee he's drunk, there's no way he's getting much sleep tonight, but he can worry about her in his crappy hotel just as well as here.

But as soon as he gets in the car, for no reason he can think of, he drives over to the house Peter's staying in.

 **No reason. Ah-ah-ah.**

Well, there might be reason. The thing with the glasses--he's still trying to parse that. They were his prescription, which meant Peter had hacked some database somewhere. A lot of effort to...what? It was just such a—Lincoln smiles to himself as the word occurs— _queer_ gesture, both in the sense of "odd" and the other. Robert, as close as they'd been, would never have had such a thought. Julie would never have presumed either, for that matter, even though she'd bought him work shirts when she did the shopping for Robert. If that had been Peter's version of flirting, it wasn't any kind Lincoln was accustomed to, thoughtful and intimate at the same time.

 **Seriously, canon, come on. NOT HETEROSEXUAL BEHAVIOR.**

 **Agreed. As someone who’s worn glasses forever, they’re a fairly personal thing. For someone to get my scrip and frame measurements and get me a set that actually looks good on me? That’s mind boggling – and not casual flirting, but serious intent. I guess I could read this as anything but flirting is if Lincoln had had the glasses for only a short time, for minor correction – it would explain the ugly frames and his ability to function without them in later episodes. But I like the flirting theory better.**

Or maybe it'd been Peter's weird way of playing matchmaker, distancing himself from an Olivia who wasn't _his_ by trying to set Lincoln up with her? Had he been tacitly giving Lincoln his blessing? Peter had obviously picked up on Lincoln's interest in her, but even so...it was a strange gesture, on so many levels.

And yet, he's wearing the new glasses tonight.

The living room light of the house is still on when he drives up. Lincoln parks and walks over to the "unobtrusive" black sedan in front to check in with the agent on guard. The guy reports that all's quiet, but that every time he looks in Peter's still sitting in a chair, staring at drawings.

 **Peter’s ability to just focus is A) a little scary, B) a moderate factor in his success as a con, and C) huge proof he’s his father’s son, that’s for sure.**

And, well. He's _here._ Lincoln takes his own quick look in the window, and then knocks. The door opens and he shrugs. "I figured if you're still up and I'm still up, we might as well...."

"Be up together?" Peter suggests, and waves him in.

 **Accidental innuendo from Peter? Not so much an accident.**

The boards are covered with even more pages than before, schematics and formulas and esoteric diagrams. "Having any luck with this stuff?"

"Not even a little. I really need Walter's help." Peter disappears into the kitchen and comes back with two bottles of beer. "Here. I'd managed to keep myself from drinking alone, so thanks for the excuse."

"Cheers." Lincoln takes a long swallow before he remembers that he drove here, but as long as he sticks to just the one he'll be all right. "I can try to talk to him, if you want. I don't know him as well as Olivia does, but...."

 **"Cheers." Oh, let's say, a remnant from a college semester in England.**

Peter shrugs. "You can try. But I know Walter. He's not gonna do anything he doesn't want to before he's good and ready. And I'm afraid I'm just too much of a shock to his system."

"You always call your father 'Walter'?"

"Habit." Peter gives him a wry smile. "A lot of bad history. When I got drafted into Fringe Division, it seemed to be the most neutral option."

 **Understatement. And it makes me buy Peter’s voice here fully.**

There's definitely a story there. "What do you mean, 'drafted'?"

Peter eyes him for a second, then motions for Lincoln to grab a seat. "Sure, why not. It's pretty funny, in retrospect."

 **All of her character voices sound good, but I must confess I'm particularly fond of Peter here – could totally see this scene unfold in my mind's eye.**

And it is: Peter recounts how Olivia flew all the way to Bagdad so she could blackmail him into signing Dr. Bishop out of the institution. Peter's amusement at being bluffed is evident, and so is the love in his voice when he talks about Olivia. Or rather an Olivia in some other universe, apparently a lot like the one Lincoln knows. It'd be too much to absorb if he hadn't already met another Olivia, the redheaded one who'd checked him out with barely veiled hilarity in her eyes.

But Peter's Olivia sounds a lot like the Olivia who's Lincoln's partner, and that makes him wonder about the rest of Peter's world. "So you'd met me before too? I mean, in your universe?"

Peter smiles. "I did. We worked a case together. Got along well."

 **See "Stowaway." Sort of surprised Peter hasn't mentioned meeting (a) Lincoln before in canon, although he probably quickly realized there wasn't any point.**

"What was I like?" He's seen the video images of the other side's Lincoln Lee, although he still can't quite imagine how he might have evolved so differently.

"Pretty much the same," Peter is saying, and Lincoln doesn't know whether to be disappointed or relieved. "'You' were an analyst, not a field agent. Didn't have a partner. Otherwise...."

Lincoln nods, trying to picture it. It's not that difficult, really. He'd been pushed toward the analytical branch throughout his career, winning the chance to go out into the field only through perseverance and constant training. Robert had gone to bat for him as well, citing his need for a partner who could balance his impulsiveness with cool reason.

 **We see only very small variations between the Lincoln Lee we met in "Stowaway" and the one in fourth season. Robert might have been the defining difference.**

It hurts to think about Robert, but...less, now. There's still a need for vengeance that won't be filled until they find the shapeshifters and figure out their agenda, but Lincoln knows it won't be any less satisfying for the interval.

 **The explanation of Lincoln and Robert's relationship – and how Robert altered this our Lincoln's storyline – is totally my new head-canon. I'm just fond of stories, whether on tv or my monitor or a page of paper, that remember their dead (and what they meant to the ones still alive).**

He's still thinking about Peter's comment, too. He takes another swallow of beer, realizing that somewhere along the line he'd moved on to a second bottle, and that this one's nearly tapped out. Between the alcohol and the hour discretion is pretty much out of the question, at this point. "So by 'got along' you mean...."

 **Someone might wonder why Lincoln's asking this if he's so interested in Olivia. He's interested in both of them...and nothing's *happened* with Olivia yet. He's allowed to explore his options.**

 **Well, he is practically an analyst, even in this ‘verse. He’s going to want to know what and why. And Peter, who is really good at telegraphing only the motives he wants you to see, has to simply be fascinating.**

"If things hadn't gone to shit right after that case, I would have recommended to Broyles that he poach you for the Fringe team." Peter sighs, a faint pensive smile on his lips. "And it's late and you asked, so yeah, if I hadn't been--wasn't--completely in love with Olivia, I would've asked you out for a drink after that. And brought you back here if you'd been amenable."

Like Peter said, it's late, which is the only thing that excuses the inevitable follow-up. "And-- and now?"

Peter's smile turns gentle. "I'm still in love with Olivia."

 **Period, end of sentence, that door closes. For now. I admit to having issues with fic where Peter (at this point) decides to see Amber!Olivia as a substitute; he's learned that lesson already, and painfully, and he's nowhere ready to give up on getting back to her yet.**

 **(I really loved the casual "Hey" at the end of "Wallflower"--a greeting to a colleague, nothing more. Peter has won me back so hard with his approach.)**

Lincoln feels like punching himself in the face, but Peter goes on without seeming to have taken offense. "Out of sight, out of mind doesn't apply, even in other universes. I need to believe she's out there, looking for me."

 **This made me hurt for him – this sense of almost-desperate hope he’s holding on to, paired with the isolation and otherness.**

"I'm sure she is," he offers lamely. It's-- it's really _sad,_ if he stops to think about it, which is probably a really bad idea given the hour and the alcohol.

Peter says abruptly, "You're still living out of a hotel?"

"Huh? Yeah."

"You can move in here, if you want. Plenty of room. And it doesn't look like Walter's gonna be reclaiming his property any time soon."

 **I think I was shocked we didn't actually get a line like this in "Wallflower."**

Presumptuous, maybe, for more than one reason.

 **This is a trick I think we all use, and it has to be done with care as not to sound hollow, but 'rith does it exceedingly well in this story: add subtle echoes of the other characters or of course their alternates. “Presumptuous“ conjures up the pivotal night in 3x18 6B, of course, the Olivia/Peter romance; in _[Class Twelve](http://archiveofourown.org/works/308828)_ , I just used the image of an unconscious Lincoln cradled in Olivia's lap...as last seen on tv, namely 3x04 Alone in the World.**

 **\--Completely my subconscious at work, or happy accident; I had to go look at the 6B transcript to place the "presumptuous" reference. OR, uh, I totally meant to do that! Yep. *koff***

But tempting. Peter adds, "You can tell Broyles you'll keep an eye on me. Free up an agent from babysitting duty. Tim's pretty sick of me already and I can't say the feeling's not mutual, and the guy sitting out there tonight's not interested in conversation. I tried."

Lincoln looks at the remnants of his second beer. "Let me think about it when I'm sober, all right?"

 **I don’t know if this is Lincoln distrusting his judgment because of the alcohol, distrusting a known con, or distrusting his judgment as flawed since Robert died. Any which way, I do like the honesty he presents Peter with, here.**

"Sure." Peter rubs at his eyes. "Okay, I'm done. Gonna try to catch some sleep before there's another event. Couch is yours if you want it." He waves a casual hand good night and heads up the stairs.

The couch isn't so bad, really. And there's probably another bedroom upstairs if he decides to take Peter up on the offer. He'll need to reexamine the idea by daylight but right now, the booze and the coffee have reached détente and Lincoln feels that sleep is, in fact, an excellent idea.

***

In the morning Lincoln manages to scrape himself off the couch and get himself out the door and over to his hotel, which hasn't become any less crappy overnight. A shower, a change of clothes, and an egg McFood Substitute later and he's ready to crawl into work, feeling almost human. But the lack of sleep is going to catch up with him soon, he can tell. Another reason to either find an apartment of his own or take Peter's suggestion seriously.

He gets to the Federal Building before Olivia, which is a little surprising. There isn't actually that much to do: checking to see if there's been any sighting of the shapeshifter, scanning law enforcement reports for anomalous might-be-Fringe-events. Almost normal analysis work, except for the subject matter.

 **In "One Night in October," Olivia was surprised that Lincoln had gotten to work before her. Finally met her equal in poor sleep habits. OTOH, Lincoln sleeps better with Peter around...hmmm. *laughs***

 **That and it’s a couch, and an old one at that. The coffee table might’ve been more comfortable.**

Still, Lincoln's probably more relieved than he's entitled to be, when Olivia walks in. He'd determined not check up on her until a reasonable time had passed, or to mention last night at all. She looks tired, like he's sure he does, but reasonably alert.

Olivia doesn't leave him hanging, either. She comes right over to his desk, looking apologetic. "Listen, I didn't mean to-- I blacked out from a migraine. Woke up on the floor a couple of hours ago."

 **From the tone of the conversation at the end of "Wallflower," it sounded like that wasn't the first time the MD gang had dosed Olivia. Presumably, she'd already been asleep each of the other times and went from sleep to unconsciousness without registering anything was wrong. The fact that they left her on the floor was sloppy, sloppy work, especially if she wasn't going to remember that she was about to go out anyway.**

 **The fact that she was on the floor struck me as incredibly sloppy, on Nina’s part, on two counts. First, it’s going to alert Olivia that something medical is going on. Second, in her own strange way, Nina does care about Olivia. Maybe it’s a detail she left out of the orders, subconsciously undermining her own plans?**

He stares at her. "That's awful. Are-- you all right now? Can I drive you to the emergency room?" He's imagining terrible things, a brain tumor, he can't stop. The thought of her lying there....

 **The whole intro should be boring but is not; it brings Lincoln alive, paints him as a real person, dozens of perfect details. On a characterisation level, I love how this gets across he's slightly out of his depth but determined too – clearly he cares, a lot. Note also the No Dramarama, Plz, 'tis Fringe! element from Olivia's side too.**

Olivia shakes her head. "I've got a doctor's appointment later for a once-over, but it's not the first time that's happened. And I feel fine now. A headache, but a regular one." She smiles wanly at him, her eyes sincere and direct. "Let me make it up to you?"

 **Once is happenstance, twice coincidence, thrice enemy action. But Olivia’s always “fine”, even when she’s not, and this so grabs that sense of her.**

"Nothing to make up," he says, meaning it. "But, uh, maybe early rather than late next time?"

She ducks her head, nodding. "That's...probably a good idea. So, uh...anything I need to catch up on?"

There really isn't but he fills her in anyway, and the rest of the morning is paperwork and procedural memos and not too many glances over to where she's frowning at the computer screen through her own glasses.

Shortly before lunch--he'd been contemplating asking if she wanted to grab something, mulling far too long over a simple question--Olivia sighs and stands up. "Time to go get my head examined." They both smile and Olivia wrinkles her nose. "I've got an MRI scheduled. So boring."

"It's got a good beat, but you can't dance to it," he offers, an old joke, but Olivia laughs anyway. In that moment, Lincoln Lee knows two things: one, that he'd do or say nearly anything to hear that sound again; and two, he is _smitten._ In the old-fashioned, head-over-heels sense of the word.

 **Aren't we all.**

He watches as she straightens her desk and puts on her coat. She nods to him and turns to go, then pauses and looks back.

And Olivia says, "I like the new glasses."

***

Lincoln does move into the old house, of course.

 **But of course. This is mildly spoilery for the rest of this story, but this two-step here is worth noting: that dry line of Olivia commentary to Lincoln, the quasi-aside to fandom. It's a good example that writerly advice such as show-not-tell can't be generalised – a snarky little summary of what just has to happen because it makes so much sense from a character viewpoint that any lengthy elaborations on it would just be superfluous? Yeah.**

He and Peter quickly become friends, which seems improbable on the face of it, but ends up being the easiest thing in the world. It shouldn't work: they're both in love with the same woman. Only Peter keep insisting that they're not, and the way he treats Olivia--like a cherished colleague, more than anything--makes Lincoln believe it. And there's still...

 **Again, show-not-tell would triple the length and halve the effectiveness of this paragraph. It’s all things a smart reader can recall from canon, but never hurts to quickly recap for new readers.**

...there's still something between Peter and him, or something that _might_ have been between them, if not for Olivia. It hits Lincoln far too late that Peter reminds him of Robert with all his snarky commentary, but Peter is perceptive where Robert was oblivious and they're both careful not to push the mostly veiled attraction too far out into the open.

 **Not "too far." But they're both keenly aware.**

***

Lincoln and Olivia go jogging. They both like the early morning run, before people are up and about, when the day seems to belong to them alone. The first time isn't a make-up for the diner, because nothing was promised, and subsequent outings are not quite dates, because...well, just because.

 **Because they are both, as Olivia commented once, "sorta bad at this."**

 **Also, I didn't even consciously realize the reflection of "6:02 A.M. EST" until Mona mentioned it. (Olivia: "This is my favorite time of day. The sunrise, when the world is full of promise.")**

They don't talk much, saving their breath for the exercise, but they don't need to. Olivia had told him that the MRI was clear, along with her blood work, and that there really wasn't anything more to do except deal with the migraines. Lincoln tried to make her promise to call him if she felt one coming on--a courtesy and a safeguard, reminding her that partners look out for each other. He wasn't sure she would actually take him up on it, but his concern is out there, at least.

Lincoln finds a great greasy spoon at the end of the route and while it doesn't exactly become a ritual for them to stop and get breakfast there, it's not an uncommon event either. The coffee's particularly good, the bagels as respectable as can be found outside of New York, and the atmosphere's...clean, at least.

 **The first callback, not the last, to _Quantum Entanglements,_ my Olivia/alt-Lincoln series. What's good for one Lincoln often is good for the other. (In fact, this is probably the This Side version of the same diner in "Time on Our Hands.")**

 **I have to admit to a little bit of double vision with QE, because I was simultaneously writing Blue!Lincoln there as purely platonic with Olivia, more brotherly than anything.**

There are guidelines about seeing your fellow agents in the FBI socially--as in, they're advised not to do it--but Lincoln's already realized that Fringe Division makes its own rules. Even Agent Broyles, who sees everything, seems to turn a blind eye as long as nothing impacts his agents' efficiency.

 **Broyles is a smart man who realizes that he’s not running a field office so much as a bizarre and isolated special forces unit in what are potentially extremely psychologically (and occasionally physically) traumatic circumstances. As such, rules become “guidelines”. I mean, what Bureau shrink is going to be able to deal with, “So I met my alternate from another universe and I’m now doubting every life decision I’ve made” (Lee) or worse, “…and now I’m wondering why I’m neurotypical here when my family member has the condition” (Astrid). ‘Rith has a talent for recognizing these hidden factors – in this case, about Broyles – and brings them to life wonderfully.**

After reading the backlog of Fringe case files, Lincoln can't imagine anything that could impact Olivia Dunham's efficiency.

 **Indeed. Oh, Lincoln.**

***

And then there's the case with the giant mutant spitting cockroaches, which Lincoln really would rather have done without. According to the files, cases involving oversized bugs (and germs, and other horrific abominations) aren't really that uncommon for this division, but considering his first official Fringe case had included a sentient fungus, Lincoln had been hoping the worst of the gross was behind him. No luck, apparently.

Finally they catch up with the whacko scientist responsible and toss him safely behind bars. Lincoln would have wagered there wasn't enough soap in the _world,_ but after a couple of scalding showers he finally feels clean again, the reports are written, and the case is successfully closed.

 **Dear show: I could do without this particular episode, too. Just a random filler bit to indicate time passing.**

 **Dear show: Peter could’ve helped get Lincoln clean. Just a suggestion.**

And Olivia says, "I'm buying."

***

Lincoln and Peter watch movies, a lot of movies. A few first-runs, mostly science fiction or superhero stuff. (Olivia declines the invitations to join them. "Our lives aren't science fiction enough?") Usually it's a pile of rental DVDs and a pile of assorted takeout and a lot of shouting at the screen.

 **Lincoln and Olivia go jogging // Lincoln and Peter watch movies. Lincoln's ties to both of them get stronger every day.**

 **I remember reading this and scrunching up my face, which I wish were as cute as when Lincoln does it, because I like the idea of Olivia as a sci-fi fan – as someone like us, basically. But Olivia's bedside reading of forensic science (versus Obama and Toni Morisson) may reflect she's one of the people who prefer their after-hours words consumed to ground them, and besides, we get enough fanservice through Peter and Lincoln here – good callback to Peter being at least somewhat of a _Star Trek_ fan in canon.**

 **\--oh, I like the idea of Olivia as a sci-fi fan, too. See, Mona appears to be of the opinion that I actually *think* about deeper reasons for what I'm writing as I'm doing it. No, in this case is was _hmmmm why isn't Olivia watching movies with them :: oh, snappy line will cover that_ and I'd moved on. **

**See, Olivia as not-a-sci-fi-fan doesn’t bother me. She wasn’t trained as a scientist or analyst per se, and she’s got to have some form of escape from the insanity that is her life. And her cynicism doesn’t quite read as a die-hard sci-fi fan might be: “The case this week is…wasn’t that an ep from the fourth season of Babylon 5?” To me, at least, it reads much more personally than Peter’s genre-savviness. **

They catch up on _X-Men: First Class_ , commenting freely on the absurdities and then on Fassbender's and McAvoy's brilliant portrayals, and when it's over Peter shakes his head. "That was gayer than any gay porn I've ever seen."

 **So gay. So, so, so very gay.**

Lincoln grins. "So you've seen a lot to compare?"

Peter grins right back. "Worked as a lighting-and-camera guy for an adult film company for awhile. I didn't like the way they treated the actors, so I left after about a month and a half."

 **...want to read this back story fic now.**

 **Wonder if he ever had to step in.**

That leads to a discussion of all the odd jobs Peter's held, firefighter and pilot and professor and telephone line rigger and an absurd assortment of other work. Peter does most of the talking during their conversations, and that's all right by Lincoln; Peter's life has been much more interesting, by his reckoning.

 **Peter loves being the center of attention, as long as he’s in control of the spotlight, Lincoln’s twisty little mind’s is picking up all the data, and I’m sure Peter’s loving watching Lincoln fill in the blanks. They say the secret of flirting is to give the recipient what they really want…**

***

And then there's the case with "Nadine Park," although they never learn if that's her real name. Thanks to Peter's expert hacking ability they track the shapeshifter down, but she throws herself into an industrial incinerator before they can capture her. No body, no memory disc to retrieve, another (literally) dead end.

 **Yeah, pretty sure she's going to have a bigger role in canon than this, but she wasn't my focus.**

And Olivia says, "There's a street fair this weekend, want to go?"

 **Olivia makes all the first moves. See canon, and asking Lincoln out twice first: "Do you want to go get a bite to eat or something?" from "Novation," and "I might see you there" in "Wallflower." Also, Olivia loves a good street fair ["Os"].**

 **It could be read that Lincoln's being passive with her, but I prefer to think _cautious._ He's thoroughly in awe of her (again, who isn't) and doesn't want to jeopardize their working relationship, first and foremost; in this fic's canon he has a lot of experience with that same kind of sublimation, with Robert.**

 **In main canon, he’s either sublimating or recovering from the death of a loved one. He’s going to be very defensive for a while. ******

 *******

Broyles arranges for another bridge meeting so that the two Fringe teams can confer about the shapeshifters and other matters. Olivia's not entirely sure she trusts the other side, she confides to Lincoln, considering they haven't provided any useful intel on the human shapeshifters. But it's still the best option they've got.

For convenience of reference among themselves, other-Olivia is "Liv" and other-Lincoln is "Lee." Other-Astrid is "Farnsworth," Charlie is just Charlie, and none of them mention Secretary Bishop if they can help it.

 **And alt-Broyles would be "the Colonel," I guess.**

Olivia, Lincoln, and Astrid make the trip to New York. Peter declines an invitation, saying that he's already spent too much time with them for his liking. Lincoln gets the feeling there's something or someone specific he's avoiding, but Peter doesn't seem inclined to share.

 **Avoiding Liv, of course. Peter doesn't see any reason to confront her, considering she didn't seduce* him in this universe, and he doesn't trust his temper. He didn't tell Lincoln that part of the story, either.**

 *** that's the polite word. My feelings about that storyline are not complimentary. I am very, very grateful to the season four timeline in which that didn't happen, and I can appreciate Liv again.**

They meet Liv, Charlie, and Captain Lee in the room between universes, and right away Lincoln can see their dynamics in play: the other side's team works like a slick machine, finishing each others' sentences and...heedless of personal space between them. Lincoln's heard that Francis is married and Liv is engaged, but he wonders if they know that.

 **Ahem. Yes. More on this later.**

 **Does fandom have a meme/trope for “No Monogamous Explanation Possible”?**

Olivia and Liv clash at every conceivable moment, but Olivia's professional with Lee and warm toward Charlie. He's nearly identical to the friend she'd lost, Lincoln has gathered, so that's not unexpected. Astrid is, as usual, friendly toward everyone and they respond in kind, perhaps a little surprised by her smiles and laughter when their own Farnsworth is so very different.

 **Mona wants more fic on this point. *looks to the peanut gallery***

 **I will admit, I want all the background on the Astrids.**

 **\--It's obnoxious that we're in the fourth season and still know so little about her.**

Lincoln takes his time gathering his own impressions as the meeting progresses. In the end they don't have very much of use to share with each other, but he's still grateful for the chance to have met these mirror-double people. Liv is...very different from Olivia, except when she's talking about a case, and then she's almost the same. Lincoln's not sure he likes her very much, but acknowledges that's probably Olivia's bias influencing his judgment. He does like Charlie Francis quite a lot, recognizing the sharp mind behind the casual, crude exterior.

As for Lee, Lincoln's alternate is funny and charismatic and...

Oh, hell. _Ridiculously_ hot. Lincoln's never thought of himself that way; he's never seen that kind of attractiveness in his mirror. (Maybe no one does, in regard to themselves, unless there's a bulletproof ego involved. But there are fundamental differences in this case.)

He does...check, when he gets home, door safely closed. Unlike his father, Peter has appropriate regard for personal space and won't barge in. Lincoln scrounges around for an old t-shirt, takes the glasses off, musses his hair--feeling ridiculous the whole time--and looks again.

 **Laughed to myself the whole time imagining this scene. Bad manners to giggle at your own fic?**

 **I sure hope not.**

...no. The similarity is there, obviously, features and bone structure and all. It's more than that, a question of bearing and attitude and confidence. Lincoln's never thought of himself as lacking in confidence, but he doesn't have that essential...cool.

 **...yes. Lincoln is missing it. But Olivia sees it.**

His alternate is _cool_ and that's all there is to it.

 **Which is ironic, since we’ve seen proof in a number of cases where Red!Lincoln is fully as big a science dork as you could imagine. That Amber!Lincoln is so caught in comparison that he doesn’t see it makes me want to cuddle him.**

That's all right. Given the state of Captain Lee's world, Lincoln considers the tradeoff worth the cost.

 **Lots of delightful Lincoln Lee packed into this; of course we know that the other Lincoln is a great big dork when he's not a laser-eyed team leader and offering to follow his Liv to the end of the world and beyond, but the Amber!verse version of Lincoln Over There plays, much like Olivia, his cards slightly closer to the chest. Lincoln Over Here might not see him quite so clearly. Mirror, darkly lit, and all that.**

 **\--*shifty eyes* I totally thought all of that and not _Lincoln pretending to be Lee in front of the mirror hee hee hee._**

 **(In light of 4x08: He's better at it than he thinks.)**

***

And then there's a strange long stretch without a Fringe case, and they find themselves getting twitchy, the exact opposite of a normal response. Some of them start manifesting stress behaviors: Astrid bakes constantly, Walter's side experiments get increasingly bizarre, and Peter tears apart and rebuilds every electronic thing he can get his hands on.

 **For some reason, I love the idea that Astrid bakes (it’s that or needlecraft). At one level, sure, it’s homey, but there’s a lot of science that goes into baking, and I can see her using the structured recipes as a way to decompress while she’s letting her subconscious decipher some piece of code or language. It’s these little details that add so much depth to the characters in here.**

 **Likewise Peter having to _tinker_.**

 **\-- Astrid does worry-bake in canon, so I can't claim credit for that one. But the part about it being structured science is interesting.**

Olivia and Lincoln agree that they are perfectly content with the hiatus, and it's not like they're idle; there are always other cases that need attention, and lending a hand on mundane assignments lets them pretend they're ordinary agents for awhile. They even have time for real meals, at something approximating normal people's schedules.

 **I think I noted in beta somewhere, but I love the idea that they still deal with normal cases, assisting with the Boston field office and keeping their skills fresh. It lets them know that the world is still, more or less, normal and keeps them from quite the insularity that the Other Side seems to have.**

And Olivia says, "I'm a terrible cook. But I'll give it a shot if you want to come over."

Lincoln would have thought that two adults with above-average reading comprehension skills could manage to follow a recipe without making a mess of things but no, Olivia's kitchen looks like a bomb of flour and water hit it by the time they're done. In the end they agree that biscuits were probably the advanced course, and they scrounge dinner out of the odds and ends in Olivia's cabinets and fridge.

 **Another QE callback, but this Lincoln can't cook. Head!canon again:**

 **From "Neither Here Nor There": "[Robert] was like family. Something I never thought I'd find." Lincoln hasn't had a family in a long time. Completely without basis, my back story for him is that his parents were both killed in a car accident when he was in his late teens; late enough that he remembers having a family, not so early that he was in foster care for too long. He was probably preparing for early admission for college when that happened.**

 **(My canon for alt!Lincoln: We know his father died relatively recently, but in my head his mom's still around, and she's the one who taught him to cook. In fact, she's a professional chef. Just because.)**

 **More random head!canon: Lincoln had been dating a woman fairly steadily for about a year, but they broke up shortly before "Stowaway"--he wasn't a celibate monk. As noted in the outtake, he hadn't been with a guy since college.**

 **I see more things to be written…**

There's an old black and white movie marathon that Olivia had been talking about, so they settle in on the couch. It's only a few minutes in when Olivia says abruptly, "I don't feel like watching this."

"Sure, whatever you--"

She starts to get up and Lincoln moves to follow, but her hand on his chest pushes him back down. Olivia smiles at him, shy and sweet and wicked all at the same time, as she swings around to sit astride his lap.

"Okay?" she whispers, leaning in.

"No," he says, and smiles into her widening eyes. "Amazing."

She laughs, like he'd hoped, and she kisses him like he's been dreaming of, and the rest is better than any fantasy.

 **I think I flailed when I read this. A lot. On a writerly level, I love how this goes against the grain of making Blue!Lincoln a domestic god – I sure do in _[The silence in-between](http://archiveofourown.org/works/317941)_ , perhaps because anythingbutgrey did it in _[Easy](http://anythingbutgrey.livejournal.com/802794.html)_ , and Elfin had Lincoln at least verbally tell Olivia he makes a mean breakfast in _[Won't be Warm 'til I'm Lying in Your Arms](http://archiveofourown.org/works/274608)_.**

 **\-- No particular reason on my part to break with tradition, except maybe to differentiate him from alt-Lincoln just a little bit. I'd already given his alternate cooking skillz, and didn't want to repeat.**

The morning after the night Lincoln doesn't come home Peter smiles at him, approving and with something like envy. Or maybe more like yearning.

***

Walter thaws, eventually. He mostly treats Peter like a visiting professor with whom he deigns to share theories and blackboard space, but everyone recognizes that it's the best he can do.

After weeks of working on the Problem of Peter they're no closer to a solution. Lincoln thinks that Peter's held up remarkably well, all things considered, but once in awhile he falls into a deep, black mood that threatens to suck all the air out of the house. There's nothing Lincoln can say, and he doesn't try; he just makes himself available if Peter wants to vent, quietly inconspicuous if he doesn't.

"The thing is," Peter says suddenly, one of those dark days, "it wasn't just three years I remember with Olivia. It was _fifteen._ "

Lincoln listens with wonder and horror as Peter explains about putting himself into the machine...and being catapulted into the future, gaining years of memories in an instant. Years in which he was married to Olivia and they lived and loved and worked together to save their dying world.

 **Still horrifying that in canon, Peter remembers all of this and never had the chance to tell Olivia about it.**

"I know that future isn't mine anymore, it isn't anyone's. That's been averted. But I still remember it." Peter looks at him, his expression bleak. "I can't stand not being with her. Not after all that."

Lincoln actually feels _guilty_ for a fleeting moment before he reminds himself that there isn't any reason to be.

 **This is a good time to mention I adore this story has a genuine feeling of the flow of time – of development, life speeding up and slowing down again. It does tie in neatly into the opening and closing sequence, of course.**

***

Olivia's migraines still appear intermittently, seemingly without cause or pattern. She keeps putting off Walter's offers to run more tests, and Lincoln can't really blame her for that after seeing the contraption of wires and probes Walter intends to use.

He'd been staying over at her place more and more often over the last few weeks. Not every night, but even when they haven't scheduled a date, if it's late and he's passing by just out of habit and her light's on, he can't resist the urge to go up. When he gets up to Olivia's floor one random evening, though, the door is open and there's a red-headed woman standing in the hall. "...Ms. Sharp?" he says as he gets closer, starting to be alarmed. "What are--"

Without a word Nina Sharp swings around, viper-quick, something in her hand coming up while she presses a masklike device to her face, and there's a faint hiss and--

 **Nina's been watching Olivia's apartment, of course, so she knows when Olivia's sleeping alone. Damn Lincoln and his insomnia, anyway.**

 **Both Lincoln and Olivia have trouble sleeping. And they both often neglect to eat, if you track some of the longer days in this fic. Peter's good for both of them like that.**

***

The next thing Lincoln knows he's lying in bed with Olivia, which would ordinarily be a pleasant state of affairs, except he can't remember how he got here. It's morning, when the last thing he remembers is deciding to take a walk last night. And his headache is _terrible._

He lifts his head to see Olivia stirring too, starting to wake. "Olivia-- ow. Olivia, what happened?"

"Oh. Did I black out again? But I don't remember...." she looks at him. "Wait. You, too?"

"This isn't about migraines," he says grimly, and gets up to find aspirin, water, and a phone.

 **Plot! It's not just for Pinkner and Wyman any more! As someone who uses pretend!plot half the time, I adore it. Fanfiction as a modern art form does not require it, so strongly centered on other aspects of storytelling and, perhaps even more, communicating in and about a social network. And yet. Plot gives a story structure, much like tannins in a good wine: by itself, it can be harsh or overwhelming, but coupled with the tartness of atmosphere and the sweetness of characters connecting, it makes for a balanced reading experience.**

 **\--As I mention below, the fact that this fic has a plot was completely surprising to me. But even in the early draft I knew I wanted to cover the Jones question and the Nina question and to have Olivia get her powers back, and those three things seemed to call for a little more structure than usual.**

 **Plot! And characters being smart – when it was just Olivia, it was one thing, but the second there’s another exemplar…**

The first step, while they wait for Astrid and Peter, is knocking on doors to find out if anyone else on this floor of the building experienced anything strange. Lincoln gets a lot of suspicious and then concerned looks, but no one reports sudden bouts of unconsciousness. Which means Olivia's been _targeted_ and this has been going on for months, and Lincoln is cursing at himself for not encouraging her to submit to Walter's tests after all.

Astrid arrives, bringing a briefcase full of jury-rigged equipment. Peter arrives, bringing a tool kit and a dark expression. Together they search the place with meticulous attention: Astrid announces that environmental scans found trace elements of a chemical to be identified later, while Peter disassembles the video cam and finds evidence of tampering.

 **This fic needed more Astrid, dammit.**

They haul themselves and all the data back to the lab, and it's not really a surprise when the results come up. Both the chemical and the electronic components were manufactured by Massive Dynamic, like everything seems to be.

"That woman!" Walter snarls. "I told you she couldn't be trusted."

"Walter, we don't have any proof," Olivia says, rubbing at the back of her neck. "Anyone could have used these things."

"'Anyone' doesn't have access to this," Bishop says triumphantly, waving the results of the blood work he'd insisted on doing for both of them. "Ordinary tests wouldn't have detected it. Agent Ford's blood is clean, but yours, Agent Dunham, shows significant amounts of Cortexiphan. "

Lincoln doesn't bother with a correction. "The stuff from the trials? What Cameron James was dosed with?"

"And me," Olivia says quietly.

"Okay, so...." Lincoln paces a few steps, then stops. "I wasn't...supposed to be there. So maybe I saw something I can't remember?"

"Hypnotism!" Walter crows, sounding entirely too excited. "We can retrieve those memories, boy, don't you worry."

Lincoln looks over at Olivia, who considers a moment and then nods. "If...you're willing. It's noninvasive, at least," she says with a wry look.

"All right. Just don't let him make me cluck like a chicken."

 **Also needs fic.**

Walter doesn't, Astrid and Olivia and Peter assure him afterward. He does retrieve Lincoln's memory of Nina Sharp standing outside the door, and Olivia's face is cold and still and terrible.

 **Such a short description of her expression, yet we all know exactly what face it is and what the fallout’s going to be.**

Lincoln wants to reach out to her, but she's clearly in no mood for comfort. Olivia's in the mood for answers and before he knows it, they're in the car and heading to New York, speed limits be damned. Lincoln chooses the better part of valor and matches his silence to hers.

Ms. Sharp agrees to meet with them, even without an appointment, and it's clear from the moment they walk in that she knows the game is up. "Olivia, I hope you'll give me a chance to explain."

Olivia nods minutely, granting permission like a monarch, like she's the one who commands this corporation and all its resources. "Go on."

 **Potential provable assault against a federal agent, on top of potentially risking an inter-universal diplomatic incident? Olivia kind of could, just by dropping “terrorist” in combination with “shapeshifters” (to sell it to the Broyleses). Which again, makes me wonder if Nina wanted to get caught.**

Nina's tone is clinical, expository. "You need to understand, of all the Cortexiphan subjects, you showed the most promise before you ran away. The pyrokinetic flare was only the first possible manifestation. But you had such resistance to the trials, it seemed counterproductive to try to bring you back."

"So taking me and Rachel into your home was the more efficient option?" Olivia matches Nina's manner flawlessly, not a hint of emotion in her voice. "The better to keep an eye on your escaped lab rat?"

Nina winces, her façade cracking. "It...wasn't like that. I did, I do honestly care for you both, you have to believe me."

 **Yeah, I think she does. But sentimentality never gets in the way of business for Nina Sharp. To quote myself: "Nina's a shark. She doesn't stop swimming for a compassionate interlude."**

"The days of believing you about anything are over." Olivia turns on her heel and walks out.

Lincoln stares for another moment at the woman who's been assaulting his-- his partner. "I expect you'll send us everything you have on the trials, both the ones in the past and your most recent attempts. You really don't want Olivia coming back in here after them."

 **Lincoln can't even call her his "girlfriend" in his thoughts, how funny.**

 **Well, there’s been a lot unsaid, and it’s not like they’re fabulous about talking about emotions.**

"Y-yes. I will. " Nina slumps, looking _aged_ for the first time since Lincoln met her. "Agent Lee, she won't believe me now, but I really was trying to prepare her for what she's going to need to do. This problem with the alternate universe, it won't be solved by--"

"Put it in the report," Lincoln says, and follows Olivia out.

Olivia's withdrawn all the way back to Boston.

 **Alert the press. /snerk Actually, this reminds me of something that havocthecat said in her _[Fringe meta on Seasons One to Three](http://havocthecat.dreamwidth.org/1304249.html)_. (Sidenote: my OpenOffice autocorrects “three“ to “threesome“. Is this ever the right programme for this oeuvre, or what?) Namely, that if anyone should have manpain on _Fringe,_ it's Olivia; yet she does not: she deals with the issues at hand in a quiet manner; the world is not merely the canvas of her own angst.**

 **Pushing the timing here, but it's morning when they drive to NY and late by the time they're back. Do-able, if not fun.**

When they stop at the Federal Building to report to Agent Broyles, Lincoln's half expecting her to hand the job over to him. But Olivia's still on task as she delivers her statement, calmly and without emotion.

Broyles, on the other hand, is full of towering, unmitigated fury at hearing of the assault on his agent. It's only Olivia's reasoned assessment that they can use this incident as leverage for Nina's cooperation in future cases that keeps him from immediately getting the Attorney General on the phone. "If you change your mind, Agent Dunham, you have my full and complete backing on this."

 **As I said, the list of charges Broyles could drop on Sharp and MD at this point… everybody knows how that would fall out.**

It's ridiculously late by the time they're done, and neither of them has eaten, and Olivia's detachment is starting to become alarming. "Olivia, please let me--"

She doesn't let him finish. "Not...now. I need to see this through."

"You don't have to do it alone," Lincoln's left saying to the empty air. He's up the rest of the night, waiting for a call that never comes.

 **Angst, where did you come from. But it's _Olivia,_ she doesn't give up anything easily, even her own guarded solitude.**

 **It’s Olivia. She has an amazing amount of free-floating angst. Lincoln doesn’t help.**

***

The files arrive by courier the next day. Along with the promised Jacksonville dossier and current notes is a letter. Lincoln reads it first, after Olivia gives him the nod. It's short and to the point, skipping sentimentality in favor of a stark warning.

"Listen to this." Lincoln reads it off aloud. _"My attempts to reactivate Olivia's abilities, unlike Dr. Bishop's experiments, were intended to be a measured process. Not all of those who believe as I do that her capabilities are needed will be as gentle. It has come to my attention that David Robert Jones is seeking a way to return to this world. He believes Olivia to be a soldier, a recruit for the coming war, and he is willing to sacrifice any life, even his own, to activate Olivia's latent abilities by any means necessary."_

 **How does Nina know where Jones is and what he's up to? She's not saying. I went back and forth on whether she was actually working with him--I think their goal was the same for quite a while, but Nina did finally have some *gasp* ethical reservations about working with a fanatical terrorist.**

 **I think those reservations come down to the risk to Olivia. In a lot of ways, _Fringe_ is about found and lost families, and the ways lives change depending on the existence and actions of those families. In the “Blue”!Amber!verse (Over Here - someone remind me to smack the _Fringe_ writers for season four having one color for two ‘verses), Nina is Olivia’s family – and vice versa. That bond, to me, reflects the troubled connection between Peter and Walter from season one at a very basic level. **

Olivia blinks. "Jones? The last time we saw him, he escaped through a portal to the alternate universe. Farnsworth's done searches, but they haven't found anything about him over there, and it's been over two years. We'd assumed he'd died as a result of the teleportation sickness."

 **Prrrrobably a stretch that Jones disappeared so completely on the other side, but he's a sneaky SOB. Conjecture: He found William Bell over there, convinced Bell to cure him of the teleportation sickness, and possibly killed him as a traitor to The Cause later on.**

None of that would have made any sense if Lincoln hadn't virtually memorized the older Fringe case files by now. "Huh. Nice to be forewarned, I guess."

Lincoln also finds a note on his phone with no sender registered. _Bear in mind that if I had meant you harm, no one would ever have found your body._ He very carefully doesn't show it to Olivia. Despite the attempt at intimidation, he doesn't feel it's an actual threat; Nina Sharp doesn't seem like someone who gives warnings. He does show it to Peter, who agrees with his assessment. "She always played her cards close. I never thought she wanted to hurt Olivia, but her agenda doesn't necessarily line up with ours."

Walter promises to redouble his efforts to create a thin-spot detector, and they put all possible alerts in place. Olivia is as efficient as Olivia always is, but the strain is clearly wearing on her.

It'll be easiest, Lincoln had already determined, if he doesn't give her a choice. "C'mon, I'm taking you home. Hot tea and Indian takeout. It's an offer you can't refuse."

Olivia's smile is hesitant but there, and he'll take it.

 **Lincoln is a smart man, and knows to cherish those smiles. It’s not something she does often.**

At her apartment he sends her off to change out of work clothes, while he tackles the tea. This, he can handle--and after a moment's thought he doctors both mugs with a healthy shot from the ever-present whiskey bottle. The takeout arrives just as Olivia's emerging from the bedroom in her oldest, softest sweatshirt and a faded pair of leggings, and Lincoln's taking it as a positive sign that she's comfortable enough with him that she can relax in her most casual clothes.

Olivia takes the tea and her eyes widen as she sips. "Thank you. I...didn't get any sleep last night."

"Me either," Lincoln says for honesty's sake, but there's no need to stress the point. They eat with appetite--he'd over-ordered, banking on leftovers, but there's nothing left but Styrofoam at the end--and curl up on the couch together to channel surf, drowsy and full and content.

At least until Lincoln realizes that Olivia's crying, nearly silently and without the slightest motion. The picture of Nina and Rachel on the table, he'd already noticed, is face down.

 **This broke my heart when I first read it. It still does. 'rith captures Olivia, but I like the subtle cues she catches about Amber!Olivia specifically, a very slight iteration, maybe, but the difference is there, and it's here in this story too.**

 **\-- Sure, I can totally tell the difference and put things in on purpose to outline that. *koff* *koff koff koff***

Her voice when she finally speaks is a harsh whisper. "I thought she cared, I thought...but it was all a lie, I was just her experiment."

Lincoln thinks of the pictures on Nina's desk. He's not so sure, but discretion and a healthy sense of self-preservation keep him from voicing the thought. All he can do is hold her, and that seems to be enough.

 **Olivia letting Lincoln see her at her most vulnerable = love.**

In the morning Olivia wakes him with the smell of brewing coffee, and a smile as she pulls him into the shower. They're late for work, but no one dares say a word.

 **Another QE callback. I am "subtle."**

***

Nina's warning came just in time.

 **I said to my betas: In which the fic develops a Plot and no one is more surprised than me.**

Months ago, the team had retrieved a device Walter referred to as a "quantum entangled telegraph," used by agents from the other universe to communicate back to their own world and receive instructions. With the truce in place, the device--it looks like an ordinary typewriter, to Lincoln's eyes--had been remanded to Walter's lab, for purposes of contact in case of emergency. When it begins to spill out a message from Captain Lee a few days after Nina's warning, all other work stops as the team gathers around to read.

 **Remember the quantum typewriter the team found in season 3? Wish canon did.**

 **In their defense, if they kept visible every interdimensional artifact and experiment, it’d look more like the east branch of Warehouse 13. And the writers are fairly competent on dragging details out of previous seasons. Have faith. (Also, would the team have found the typewriter? Was that case Peter-sensitive? Or is it in a lab at MD? Or did Sam or a shapeshifter run off with it?)**

 **\-- And to be fair, in current canon, neither sides trusts each other to communicate that openly, anyway.**

Given the new alert about Jones, the other Fringe team had expanded the parameters of their search and come up with a likely match. Someone matching Jones' description (less accurate than Farnsworth had been satisfied with, given that the last time Olivia had seen him, Jones had been wrapped in bandages and losing his flesh to radiation poisoning) had infiltrated a CDC lab...by walking through the walls. It's not the first time both sides had seen tech like that, but there didn't seem to be any equipment associated with the feat this time. The intruder had grabbed a number of vials from a maximum-security area, then followed up by setting high-heat explosives to sterilize the area, so no determination could be made about what he'd stolen.

There's little either side can do to respond until a BioWatch alert goes off at the Massive Dynamic building in New York, an automated alarm that sends the entire multistory building into lockdown until a test can confirm the results. The programmed reaction, alarming as it is, turns out not to be at all out of proportion when the CDC analysis comes back with a positive identification: a virulent, airborne strain of smallpox.

 **First attack on MD, of course, because Jones regards Nina as a traitor. He knows it won't work to full effect, but it's a warning salvo and a first breadcrumb.**

 **Okay, I am still geeking out over the level of worldbuilding and detail in this story.**

 **\-- Google is my friend; I had vaguely remembered reading something about virus-detection equipment, and the BioWatch info proved very useful.**

The nearly instant detection allows the CDC to formulate a response, gathering up enough smallpox vaccine to inoculate all the employees...but not the courier who brought the pathogen in. He'd died instantly on the scene, biting down on a cyanide capsule as metal gates crashed down over the exterior doors.

An act of bioterrorism wouldn't necessarily have been a Fringe case, although both Olivia and Lincoln are pulled in during the initial response to help coordinate among the various government agencies. Lincoln finds himself on the phone nearly constantly with the CDC senior official on site, an affable doctor named Frank Stanton, though he doesn't learn about the man's particular significance until later.

 **Should have done more with this-Frank.**

 **There’s always Astrid.**

 **\-- *thoughtful* You joke, but...alt-Frank DID say to alt-Astrid, "I need you in my life." Hooking the two of them up on this side would not be implausible! *makes note***

But investigation of the courier-slash-bioterrorist leads to old Fringe cases involving scientific bioterrorism and the ZFT manuscript, and that stinks of Jones all over.

Nina Sharp, haggard over the video conferencing link, promises again to dig for any other associates Jones might be reconnecting with. Again via the typewriter, Captain Lee organizes a large care package of the smallpox post-exposure treatment the other side has developed--and to obfuscate its point of origin Nina agrees to announce that Massive Dynamic has been secretly producing the therapy and will pay the fines for circumventing all current medical community strictures. A small price to pay, Lincoln thinks with pointed cynicism, considering that Massive Dynamic will be considered the hero of the current crisis and its stock prices will likely shoot through the roof.

 **Yeah, I couldn't unleash an epidemic without some treatment available. Call me soft.**

 **I like characters who have opinions; no surprise that I love this take on Lincoln. We know he is connected; we know he cares about the wider world, concepts like accountability and public interest -- see also 4x01, of course. Also, with regard to the bioterrorism element, it's a nice call back to Season One overall, where this was a larger fear. Again keeping much with the Amber!verse tone and topics and their redux-done-well slant.**

Twelve days later, hospitals in Akron and elsewhere in northeastern Ohio begin to report an odd flu strain; shortly thereafter, the alert goes out to signal another outbreak. It's worse this time, with a broader spread and a much higher risk of a true epidemic. But they have the vaccine for the recently exposed and actual treatment for the infected, so the CDC's mortality projections are considerably lower than anyone might have hoped.

 **I will say, reading this scene not long after mainlining the Canadian series ReGenesis? Kinda disturbing. **

But not zero, and the vaccine itself is not without risk. With two outbreaks in quick succession, the entire country is on high terror alert. It's a small consolation that once the site of the initial outbreak is traced to the Wooster Campus of Ohio State University, they have a lead.

"I know where he's going next," Olivia says grimly, and within hours she, Lincoln, and Peter are on a plane to Florida.

Broyles calls ahead to evacuate the Jacksonville naval base, and its inhabitants are scheduled for preventative inoculations. The base and its associated residential areas look like a ghost town when they arrive, but both Olivia and Peter seem to know exactly where they're headed. Olivia points out her childhood home on the way past, which looks like every other house on the block except for the red door.

It's almost anticlimactic when they find Jones inside the daycare. He's sitting calmly in one of the classrooms, waiting for them, a vial in his hand. "Back to where it all started, yes, Ms. Dunham?"

 **Jones was a creepy fucker. I liked Newton better as a villain overall; snark is king. But season 4 is all about season 1 callbacks.**

Olivia levels her gun but Lincoln can already see it won't work; Jones is...translucent, wavery, just like Olivia had described the way she'd last seen him, and then her bullets had passed through him. He looks like a pale shadow of the man in the picture from the old prison file, thin and colorless.

Jones stands, bows mockingly, and walks right through the outside wall.

 **Totally what would happen.**

They hear his voice even as they race around the corner of the building. "Before they can be considered soldiers," Jones pronounces like a mantra, his voice echoing weirdly, "they must be regarded as recruits. And the expectation must be that they shall be unwilling."

 **The ZFT mantra: it's got a good beat, but...oh, you've heard it.**

He's standing in the center of the playground, his hand still around the vial. "The prevailing winds will take the contagion straight into the city. And it is only fair to warn you that my friend here is a weaponized hemorrhagic strain, for which you have no vaccine and no cure. Your firearm will not suffice, Ms. Dunham. There is only one way to stop me--and it is you."

Olivia motions for Lincoln and Peter to circle around, although Lincoln isn't sure how they're going to catch an insubstantial man. "Mr. Jones, I know what you want, but I don't have these...these powers you attribute to me."

Jones nods understandingly, almost sympathetically. "So your companions there, you will watch them die in agony?"

 **I find it a little fascinating that Jones makes no effort to convince her of specific powers; instead, he just threatens what she holds dear, knowing that that sort of emotional reaction will provoke the strongest manifestation.**

"Chances are I will too," Olivia shoots back. "You think I'm valuable, but you're willing to kill me to prove your point?"

Jones' face splits into a rictus smile. "I have faith in you, Ms. Dunham, even if you refuse to have faith in yourself. You will prove yourself worthy. You have no other choice." His thumb taps at the vial's cap, circles it once.

 **Jones *wants* to die for his cause. Unstated: Coming back to this universe ripped him apart again, and he's dying anyway.**

The air feels...strange, charged somehow, like the quiet before a storm. Olivia's...

Olivia's standing there facing Jones, and something about her reminds Lincoln of a picture he saw once, maybe a book cover, of a blonde girl with her hair flying, some kind of special effect gathering around her--

 ** _Fringe_ is practically a Stephen King 'verse.**

 **Olivia and Audrey need to sit down over a beer and compare notes. Though god help us if Peter and Duke find a common target.**

 **\-- I so desperately want Olivia and Audrey to meet. And I so desperately don't want to be the one who has to write it! :p**

Beside him, Peter sucks in a breath. "Lincoln, get down!" He doesn't argue, just throws himself to the ground behind a jumble of colorful playground equipment as Peter drops down beside him. "Hold your breath," Peter hisses, and again Lincoln obeys just before a flash of light and overwhelming heat cascades all around them, searing the air.

Lincoln waits a moment but the phenomenon doesn't repeat. Peter's warning, he realizes, came just in time; even though they were protected from the fire itself, the superheated air could have charbroiled his lungs. He lets out a shaky overdue breath and peers up over the half-melted barricade.

Olivia's standing in a circle of burnt earth, radiating out from her, and smoke is still rising from her hands. Jones--or what's left of him, a human outline made of ash--begins to blow away in the breeze.

 **Mona said: "yes, you are a comics fan." Yes. Yes I am. I don't think visually by default, but this was a clear picture.**

They both run over to her, but she holds out a warning hand. "Don't. Don't."

Peter knows just what to say. "Olivia. You've done this before, it's okay. You're in control now."

"I've...done this before." Her brow furrows as she stares at Peter, like she's trying to remember. "When I was a kid, once." Olivia's eyes go wide. "No. _Twice._ The second time, afterward, I met you in a field of flowers."

 **BOOM goes the dynamite. They have to get their memories back. They HAVE to. You hear me, canon? Make it so.**

Lincoln feels something breaks loose, the fabric of the universe itself maybe, and suddenly he's _remembering._

Two timelines crash together in his mind, driving him to the ground with the simultaneous and conflicting memories. Lincoln remembers everything from the past few months exactly as it happened; he also remembers working with Peter to find a woman named Dana Gray, just like Peter had told him. He remembers going back to his solitary life, dreaming of a world more strange than he'd ever imagined and knowing that there was a division out there he'd never be a part of.

 **Now, the question that will make your neck hairs stand up is, did Jones know that Olivia manifesting her powers would re-merge the Blue and Amber ‘verses? If he knew, was that the goal? Or did he not care, as long as Olivia could manifest?**

 **\-- I'm going with "unintended consequence," with her manifestation being Jones' goal.**

He hears Olivia crying out, and her voice resolves into one word. "Peter...!"

 **Oh, fine. 'rith had me there. These crazy kids.**

She's also sprawled on the ground, clinging to Peter for dear life, but her gaze reaches past him to find and hold Lincoln's eyes.

 **She communicates so much with her eyes, this makes a perfect visual – that concept of “I see you.”**

He hasn't even begun to process what's just happened, but Lincoln instinctively knows this:

They're all completely screwed.

 **Optimist.**

***

The rest is a blur. They all scrape themselves together, but Lincoln doesn't like Olivia's pale color. He's about to suggest a run by the local hospital (although he has no idea what he'd tell them, honestly) when Olivia says, "Jones was smiling." She shudders, swaying on her feet. "When the fire hit him. He was _smiling._ "

And then her eyes roll back in her head and she drops, or would have if both Peter and Lincoln hadn't been right there to catch her. Her skin feels cold and clammy, but she's breathing easily. A frantic call to Walter assures them that this is "normal," perhaps even to be expected. "Manifestation stress. And the energy expenditure," he says, sounding entirely too excited for Lincoln's liking, "she pulled the energy from inside herself. She'll be fine, Agent Lee, just let her rest. Now...if you would please...put my son on the phone?"

 **Pseudo-science, just like the show! I'm surprised I didn't give Olivia a classic (and completely scientifically inaccurate) psychic nosebleed.**

 **Wanted: fic about Walter's happy dance in the lab when the memories come back.**

 **And Astrid purposely stepping on that headband camera in front of him?**

It's the proper use of his name that really convinces. Lincoln takes charge, making a brief statement to the Florida authorities before hustling the three of them onto an overnight charter flight. At this point, he no longer cares if the FBI will reimburse him for the expense. Before they take off Lincoln contacts the FBI and the CDC to tell them that the threat is over, and he carefully spends the flight not thinking about much at all. Olivia is unconscious all the way back from Florida, and Peter stares at her the whole time.

There's no question of going anywhere but straight to the Harvard lab from the airfield. Olivia wakes as they're pulling up in the taxi, her eyes full of confusion.

"My God," Peter finally says, once they're safely inside. "All this time. I'd convinced myself this was the wrong universe. But it isn't. I'm _home._ " He hasn't let go of Olivia's hand since she woke, and she seems stunned but content to hold onto him in return.

Walter is nearly delirious with joy and keeps walking by to touch Peter's shoulders and face. Astrid is smiling too, looking over at Peter and Olivia with fondness, although at points she stops to give Lincoln a sympathetic glance. It seems the memories of the two timelines have only returned to those people most closely involved with Peter, which is infinitely fortunate: Lincoln can just imagine the entire world's populace going insane with the conflicting memories.

He feels like maybe he's not that far off himself.

"Think of the phenomenon," Walter expounds, "like throwing a pebble into the center of a lake. There is an indentation, a dimple if you will, where it hits, and then emanating ripples that smooth out the farther they get from the center. At the edge of the lake, there would be no sign that the pebble ever existed. ...Peter is the pebble, you see," he adds, unnecessarily.

 **Explanation added after Mona wanted to know why everyone in the world wasn't experiencing the memory return. (For a fic exploring what happens when they do, see her _[Class Twelve](http://archiveofourown.org/works/308828)_ \--we were writing in parallel. :) Sam noted that the metaphor is also the most inappropriate one possible...and therefore perfect for Walter. **

"Thank you, Walter," Peter says in his driest tone, although he's smiling too.

Lincoln wonders, idly, if the team on the other side is experiencing the same event. Some of them should be, at least. Peter's told him a fair amount about his history as he experienced it, and a good deal of it impacts them as well. The whole episode where Olivia was kidnapped, in particular; a brief abduction in this timeline, but apparently a two-month stretch where she lived and worked in Liv's shoes, in the other.

 **And if that isn’t going to make the next meeting stressful, I don’t know what will.**

Lincoln busies himself with taking care of the cleanup and cover-up of the Jones case. The part about Olivia manifesting super-powers very carefully doesn't appear in any report. He takes on the task of filling in Agent Broyles, who's made a rare physical appearance in the lab. Very little for him had changed, it seems, except for some conflicting memories of certain cases.

A hush falls over the lab and Lincoln turns to see an intruder.

There's a pale, bald--Lincoln peers more closely--hairless man in a dark suit standing in the middle of the room. He seems unperturbed by everyone's stares and remains absolutely still, looking at Peter with an unnervingly intent expression.

 **When fic does as it will without you: I had no idea the Observer was showing up until there he was. But I wasn't about to tell him he wasn't supposed to be here.**

 **Nature of the Observers, that.**

His voice, like the rest of him, is mild. But the words sound ominous. "You are here."

Peter's tone is firm, but gentle. "I am here. Thank you for saving my life, at the lake."

The man's expression doesn't change, but his voice sounds uncertain. "That was my error."

"No, my friend." Walter's voice rings out, unexpectedly confident. "The error was in trying to undo what had already been done."

 **I think the real "error" was an Observer distracting Walternate in the lab, keeping him from noticing that he'd found the cure for Peter. Peter was always supposed to live in the Red'verse, IMO.**

Lincoln has _no_ idea what's going on here, who this man is or why the others are watching him with such apprehension. But everything in their posture tells him it might be a really bad idea to try to interfere.

The bald man regards Peter for another long moment. "It seems," he says slowly, "that perhaps you were meant to be here after all." The innocuous words sound almost like...a reprieve, like a governor's call for a stay of execution. Without another word he puts on his hat, turns, and rapidly walks out of the lab. No one moves to pursue, and Lincoln follows their lead.

The silence persists until he can't stand it anymore. "So I take it that...person...represents a Fringe event of some significance?"

"Possibly the greatest significance," Walter says solemnly, and then breaks into a broad grin. "My son is _home._ Strawberry milkshakes for everyone!"

 **This is so Walter, this lightning-fast shift from serious to goofy.**

Astrid laughs and goes to retrieve supplies, and they all start moving again. Walter starts to tell him about the bald man, the "Observer," although Lincoln only listens with half an ear. The rest of his attention is on Olivia and Peter and the way they're leaning into each other. They...fit, obviously and naturally.

Part of him feels like he should step back. Peter's known Olivia longer, loved her longer. He knew her before Lincoln ever learned anything about Fringe events.

The rest of him says, fuck that. He deserves happiness too. And he loves Olivia Dunham. Lincoln's pretty sure she loves him too, and that's worth fighting for.

 **You might have noticed from other fics that I'm not so much on board the Peter/Olivia Fate Train. But I ain't gonna deny what they have, either. (And from a certain point of view, Olivia/Lincoln is what's meant to be, and Peter is the interloper.)**

But right now everything's too new and raw to contemplate any more conflict, of any kind. The rest of the day passes with cataloging and comparing the two timelines, matching up events and making note of the discrepancies. Olivia barely says a word to him until the end of the day and then they're both so shy with each other, so uncertain, that it's almost painful.

 **In a lot of ways, it's what draws me so to Olivia and Lincoln, and what 'rith catches here about their interaction: they care, and they want, fiercely; they just don't have it easy getting there on an interpersonal level.**

"Lincoln, I just...need time."

"I understand."

She looks into his face, searchingly, clearly trying to find her own words. "No, I-- You need to know. I remember Peter." Olivia's fingers brush his hand, lightly, the touch nearly indiscernible. But Lincoln feels it all the way down. "I haven't forgotten you."

 **"I remember Peter / I haven't forgotten you" feel like the linchpin words of this fic. Olivia/Peter is canon endgame, obviously, the showrunners have been very clear about that. And that’s why we never actually got Olivia and Lincoln on a real date, and I would bet, never will; they don’t want to cast Olivia as the bad guy for having to break up with him to be with her One Truest Love. My argument is and will always be that people are capable of being in love with more than one person, occasionally at the same time, and I very slightly resent the missed opportunity there for a more mature resolution.**

It's all he needs to hear for now.

***

He and Peter return to the house, once Walter has decided that he can stand to let Peter out of his sight. There's no question of finding a different accommodation, even considering the current circumstances. Walter's already been talking about moving out of the lab, now that he doesn't need to be afraid of the world any more, but that's tomorrow's issue.

It should be more awkward between them. They're in love with the same woman--truly the same one, as it turns out--but Lincoln can't find it in his heart to resent Peter. With everything Peter's told him, the way he looked at Olivia and she looked at him...Lincoln would have to be made of stone to deny that.

And as soon as they step through the door, Peter says "I'm sorry."

In Lincoln's mind it's initially a tossup between whether he's hearing "I'm sorry you and Olivia have to break up" or "I'm sorry, I have to kill you now," but Peter, as usual, surprises him.

"Nothing about this is fair to either of us. Or to Olivia."

"I never thought you believed in the concept of 'fair', anyway," Lincoln says dryly, and goes to fetch them both a much-needed beer.

"...I don't," Peter finally replies, after they've both had the chance to lubricate their nerves. "I just wish...dammit, Linc, I don't even know what I wish anymore."

 **By this point Peter's feelings for Lincoln are pretty well defined, if unstated. Before they got the memories back, he'd been thinking a lot that if Lincoln and Olivia broke up...not that he was *wishing* for that, precisely...and if he ended up being stuck in this universe...he was just so tired of being alone.**

 **He also knows what Olivia means to Lincoln and honestly does feel bad--ecstatic for himself, but even so--on Lincoln's behalf. (Peter is also being uncommonly patient here, but he's waited this long--he can give Olivia a night to get her bearings.)**

"Be careful," Lincoln says, very precisely, "what you wish for."

Peter barks a short laugh. "I was a fucking _prophet_ with that one." They finish their beer but neither of them goes for another. It's just too dangerous at this point. "You haven't said much."

"What is there to say?" he shoots back, immediately wincing at both the unintended tone and the deflection. "I'm still trying to sort through which memories are really mine. I imagine Olivia is too."

"They're all really yours," Peter says quietly, but Lincoln's not going to be drawn into that discussion, not now. He says a curt good night, knowing Peter will understand, and stalks off to his room.

Lincoln can feel himself withdrawing into the watchful silence that became his refuge after his parents were killed. And that's...part of the problem, because he and Olivia share that same kind of defense. There's too much they haven't actually _said,_ and now he's afraid it's too late.

 **Which is why they need Peter to make them talk. *koff***

 **I have to wonder if the showwriters knew what they were doing, when they made these three characters. Peter’s too perfectly positioned between them.**

But he's also thinking about his...his other life, too, and how sad and lonely it was. No Robert and Jules and the kids to have him over for holiday meals, or just because. No partner to watch his back or make him late to work or--

He's smiling, he realizes, remembering Robert now. His memories of this life are wonderful, even the awful parts, because he had that. And he's had Olivia in his life the last few months and if that ends too....

 **It’s an interesting note, that Lincoln’s life was arguably _better_ without Peter’s existence. **

"I haven't forgotten you," she said. He'll cling to that, until he can't.

 **He'd deny it, but Lincoln's starting to prepare for what he thinks is inevitable.**

***

The next day Olivia calls in sick, pleading exhaustion. Lincoln goes to the office, Peter goes to the lab, and aside from the timeline cataloging it's nearly an ordinary day with no Fringe weirdness whatsoever. Lincoln never ever in his whole short career with this division thought he'd be wishing for that kind of diversion, but it would have to be better than this frozen quiet.

 **It’s a lovely echo back to earlier, when we see them stressing about nothing to do. It gives a sense that things are going to return to “normal”.**

He touches base with the CDC, which has admirably contained and managed the two outbreaks. Halfway through the day, an email with multiple files appears in Olivia's account and is instantly flagged; with Broyles' permission, Lincoln opens it up and gets a nasty shock when he sees its sender is--or was--David Robert Jones. _"This message was set to be sent automatically, if I was not available to prevent its transmission. I knew you would not fail."_ The files contain all the data Jones gathered about the human shapeshifters during his time in the other universe, a treasure trove of information.

 **Like everyone else, Jones was in love with Olivia. In his own twisted way, of course.**

 **This again is so Fringe-y: a message from the dead. We've seen it on the show, of course, in Season One, but Jones in particular, with his scavenger hunt style of communication, would totally do that.**

 **If anything, it makes me a little paranoid as to what Jones chose to hold back. Or why he’s being so forthcoming. What’s coming that’s so bad that he dispenses with his own amusement?**

He and Peter meet back at home and scrounge for a dinner neither of them really wants. After the debrief on Jones' posthumous gift there's nothing much to talk about, both carefully avoiding the obvious fact that Olivia actually bailed out of work rather than see them.

It feels like she can't stand to look at either of them.

Lincoln's rinsing off the scarcely used dishes when he feels Peter's hand on his shoulder. "I don't want to lose you either," he says, and Lincoln's had enough of discretion. He shuts off the faucet and turns, stepping into Peter's space and putting a hand to the back of his neck to pull him in. There's a fleeting pause and then Peter is kissing him back, savagely, their teeth clashing. Lincoln feels his lip split under their mutual assault and doesn't care, not even when Peter catches the tear between his own teeth and bites.

 **gnngh. ...sorry. Image very clear to me. Feels important that Lincoln makes the first move, like he was the first to (verbally) broach the subject with Peter at the beginning. Lincoln's not thinking clearly at the moment, terrified that he's going to lose Olivia, and Peter's *right there* being far too understanding.**

 **If Lincoln's thinking at all, it's: _at least I get to kiss him once before Peter and Olivia cut me out of their lives._ If Peter's thinking at all, it's: _this guy means too much to both of us to let him go without him knowing how I feel._**

 **No, it made sense. Peter does have issues with opening up, himself, emotionally. And Peter didn’t get any memories back, so he’s going to wait till he thinks everyone else has assimilated.**

There's a faint noise from the kitchen doorway and they pry themselves away from each other to look. Olivia's standing there, looking shocked. "Oh," she says in a very small voice, and vanishes.

 **Cracked myself up writing that, no lie.**

 _Literally_ vanishes, there one second and gone the next. Lincoln and Peter glance at each other, confirming they both just saw that, and rush out into the living room to make sure she hasn't fled out the front door or something mundane. No sign of her. In a story there would be some trace, a scent of ozone or Nightcrawler-teleportation brimstone, but she's simply...gone.

 **As above, love + fear = powers. Also, Lincoln (like this writer) is a nerd for the X-Men reference.**

Peter is swearing, a long unbroken litany of interesting curses that part of Lincoln's brain catalogs for future use. But somewhere in that stream is something akin to "not again" and that sounds like it might actually be relevant right now. "Peter! Stop. Tell me what just happened."

 **Ever the analyst.**

Peter stops cursing and starts talking, slowly and then with more confidence. "Olivia used to...be able to move between universes. That was one of her Cortexiphan powers. It usually required a pretty powerful stressor."

He doesn't need to finish. "Okay. Okay. So Olivia...jumped over in the other universe? Where this house is over there?"

 ***whistles* Where the house is not, definitely not, under amber. *look! a monkey!***

 **Hence why I asked:**

 **In beta, Sam asked: "Do we know that she stays x-y-z-positional-relative, or would she move if the other side had, say, a concrete wall?" -- it really is a relevant question and no, we don't know for certain, but we have good clues. In "Over There Part 1," Olivia and the Cortexikids (it's a band name!) dimension-shifted from the opera house in the same space. In "Amber 31422," she jaunted from the lab on the Other Side to the gift shop of the Statue of Liberty, indicating the movement was positional relative--and probably spatially sensitive, since she didn't appear embedded in a shelf. I'm going with the idea that she transports to a position as near as possible to the one she left, and also that if there was a barrier preventing entry, she appears in the nearest safe space. (D &D-style teleportation! :D)**

 **I forgot about the gift shop – maybe there’s a semantic dimension she can move along so that she could go somewhere she could get help, in that case, and it moved her as little as it could along the other axes to satisfy that axis. (some of the Star Trek novels - Wounded Sky, others – played more with these sorts of higher dimensions, as well as David Brin’s Uplift Saga. Yes, I’m that sort of old-school geek.)**

 **\-- I love you even more. _The Wounded Sky_ is one of my favorites. **

"Yeah. She should be okay, she'll probably make her way over to the other team's HQ. But Lincoln, dammit...." Peter looks at him, mingled despair and longing and fear. "What the hell are we going to do now?"

***

Together, silently, they decide to head to New York and the bridge room.

 **Like it's a stroll. No one, fic-writers and showrunners alike, ever account for the distance, or the hassle, or oh, God, the rush-hour traffic. That's okay, because we suffer through that a-plenty in real life.**

 **\-- Hey! Okay, true, I glossed over it here, but at least I didn't have everything happening in one day with the Boston- >NY->Boston drive. I've been trying to pay attention to that; for QE, "Time on Our Hands" got majorly restructured when I realized I didn't have access to the showrunners' tessaract. (And also cheated in having the other side have faster transport.)**

 **Now, in theory, Amtrak’s Acela line runs both directions each weekday, and someone else drives, but it’s still roughly four hours each way. A comfortable four hours with wifi and plenty of time to read case files, but still. If they can wave their badges and sneak through the airport, there’s 60-80 minutes flights departing Logan every ten minutes, it seems. But that would get expensive.**

 **Also glossed over: Lincoln calling Broyles to give them access to the bridge room in the middle of the night. That place is guarded by the military, no one's waltzing in without authorization.**

If Olivia reappears at the house, presumably she'll have her cell phone still with her and can reach them that way. If she still wants to talk to them at all.

It's a very, very tense night of waiting before the door on the other side of the bridge opens and Olivia comes through early the next morning, accompanied by Lincoln's alternate.

They're laughing together, other-Lincoln's arm too-familiarly wrapped around Olivia's waist. She nods when she sees Lincoln and Peter, and turns to whisper in Captain Lee's ear. He laughs, the sound carrying right across the room. Lincoln watches in something like disbelief as his alternate kisses Olivia's cheek and then takes her arm and escorts her toward them like they're off to the opera.

"This...can't be good?" Lincoln whispers, but Olivia and Lee are there standing in front of them before Peter can respond.

"Hey. I'm sorry if I scared you. I...didn't mean to jump, and then I couldn't get back." Olivia seems relaxed, almost serene. "I'm just lucky Captain Lee was on duty to bring me back."

Lee smirks. "I'm always available to you. On duty or off."

Olivia laughs again, bumping him with her shoulder, and when did they get so _friendly?_ "Anyway. I guess...we should talk."

 ***laughs* So...head!canon back story. I am incapable of imagining a Red'verse where Captain Lee and Liv and Charlie aren't sleeping together. (Can't be done! See season 3!) So that's a given. As a consequence, when Olivia is put in Liv's place during season 3...you get _Quantum Entanglements._ And also Olivia's friendly/sexy returned memories of Captain Lee, in this fic. **

**But at the same time, much as she’s been cast in the role, she knows she’s not Red!Lincoln’s desired Olivia, so the flirting is safe and fun to them.**

"That's my cue." Lee squeezes Olivia's shoulder and steps back. "Just remember, you guys. There is always a third option." He winks and heads back toward his world, leaving the three of them standing there, staring at each other.

 **Also, dear brain, please stop trying to write the missing scene where Olivia and Lee met and talked about all this in the other universe.**

 **[several hours later] Brain would not shut up, so I wrote it. *pouts* Watch for it in the outtakes.**

 **::carefully hides the pom-poms for ‘Rith’s brain behind Mona::**

 **\--*mutter* You'll have it for beta soon.**

 **Oh, the agony I endure.**

Or rather, Lincoln and Peter staring at Olivia; she's got her best impenetrable Mona Lisa smile on and doesn't seem inclined to say another word. "We're just glad you're okay," Lincoln offers.

"C'mon," Peter says gruffly. "Let's get out of here."

***

 **Thanks to Mona (no, sincerely!) this last scene got expanded and rewritten quite a bit--definitely for the better.**

But despite Olivia's suggestion that they talk, no one can quite find the right words to start. Put most simply Olivia walked in and caught them both cheating on her, but Lincoln feels like that summation doesn't really describe the whole situation and all the tangled connections between the three of them.

"Let's go to my place," Olivia finally says, when they reach the outskirts of Boston. Once there, Lincoln and Peter--sitting on the living room couch at a respectfully proper distance from each other while Olivia perches on the edge of a chair across from them--wait patiently for her to begin.

"I don't know," Olivia says slowly, "if this will help or hurt. But Lee was telling me--"

"Wait," Peter interrupts, and if he'd been in arm's reach Lincoln would have hit him. Hard. "'livia, you gotta believe us, what you saw...that hadn't happened before. I mean, we hadn't...done anything."

 **The sheer idea of Peter feeling the need to explain himself, and being so _bad_ at it, has me giggling. **

"Thought about it," Lincoln adds for honesty's sake before he can stop himself, and Peter nods. They glance at each other with mutually chagrined expressions, and Olivia....

Olivia smiles. "I know. I might've wondered a little, but I believe you. Although it does make this...easier, maybe." She takes a long breath. "Things happened over there, in the past few days. Charlie's having his marriage annulled, Liv broke up with Frank. The three of them were...involved, before. When they got the memories back, they realized they couldn't stand to be apart anymore."

 **Because alt-universe threesome 4-evah. Poor Frank and Bug Lady.**

Peter stares at her. "So over there your alternate and Lincoln's alternate and Charlie Francis...."

"Yeah." Olivia shrugs and looks down at her feet. "I...don't know what that means. Not everything's the same here. But I...."

"Olivia." Peter's tone is remarkably steady, where Lincoln still can't find his voice. "Are you saying you want to try it? The three of us together?"

But she's run out of words, apparently, and just looks up at him and then at Lincoln with a mute expression full of uncertainty.

"Well." Peter sounds...like he wants to laugh, mostly. "Cards on the table. I'm for it."

 **Peter, you ~~ignorant~~ insatiable slut. *laughs* No, there's probably a whole 'nother fic in the flipside version of this (two, actually, for both Peter's and Olivia's povs), but I know what Peter's thinking right here: _holy crap did she just suggest what I think she did :: how did I get so lucky :: but got to play it cool, Olivia's biting her lip like she wants to take it back and Lincoln's eyeballs look like they're trying to fall out of his head :: quick, make a joke!_**

 **This is where yours truly kicked in. The original version went significantly faster, more flippantly, although that's not quite doing it justice. All I felt when I read the first draft was that it didn't quite work for the characters -- well, not all of them; her Peter, I think, was spot-on even then. But neither Lincoln nor Olivia are particularly easy-going people, and Lincoln especially is in a difficult position. Not to mention that on an emotional, psychological, and oh, practical level this is a huge challenge, and as reasonable adults all three characters here would be well aware of that. We all imagine love is simple, and there's truth to that, but realising it is significantly harder. This rewritten version captures these aspects, I feel, while still adding humour and the gentleness so essential to how these three are with each other, and have always been.**

 **Agreed. Peter might make that transition easily; and Olivia might, as she’s seen such a relationship work (though there are identity issues and lurking consent issues that I’m not sure she’s fully realized yet); but Lincoln as we have him at this point is fairly damaged, and the idea that one person wants him – let alone two – is shocking. We’ve already seen him keeping himself on the margins of one relationship.**

Lincoln does laugh, he can't help it, and after a moment Olivia does too. He feels his lip split again and licks at it instinctively; Peter catches the gesture and smirks. Lincoln gets the feeling that if Peter was given leave to direct the scene they'd all be naked within two minutes--and he can't argue, that's a very tempting picture--but there's too much at stake here to think that would solve anything.

 **In an earlier draft, that was “dictate the scene”, which had weird imagery I didn’t like. I suggested the current “direct the scene”, without knowing why. I just realized why – it echoes back to the little bit about Peter working in the adult film industry. Moral of this story, writers: trust your instincts when a word sounds right.**

 **\-- Or in this case: trust your editor. :)**

 **If your inner voice doesn't sound like your editor, sie's doing something wrong.**

Because it's _stunning,_ what Olivia is saying--or half-saying, with Peter filling in the gaps. He'd almost been expecting a halting break-up speech, certainly for him, maybe for both of them if Olivia was really angry about what she'd walked in on. But she doesn't seem angry at all, just tired and hesitant, and Lee's comment about "the third option" suddenly makes sense.

"...oookay," Peter murmurs after a silent moment. "I'll just wait for you two to catch up."

And again Lincoln might have punched him if Peter had been sitting closer. He's too tense for a joke, his nerves feel too raw, despite the involuntary laughter a moment before. Olivia must feel the same, because she shakes her head at him. "Peter...this is difficult enough."

"You're the one who suggested it first," Peter shoots back, and then he seems to come to some kind of realization. "Because you've been there. You were with them, weren't you. When you were in Liv's shoes."

 **We don't get Olivia's pov in this fic, but Peter has it pretty much right. Once you've gone threesome, you can't go back...? *g* But more precisely she loves both Peter and Lincoln, and having already experienced a working threesome definitely makes the third option worth considering.**

 **“Once you go threesome?” I am laughing at you so hard right now.**

It's another extraordinary sight in a week full of them: Olivia Dunham, blushing. It's evidently enough of an answer for Peter, but Lincoln doesn't have the keys to their code.

At least Peter's quick with a translation. "Yeah," he says, eyes never leaving Olivia's face. "Remember what I told you, Lincoln, about Olivia being given Liv's memories in my timeline? So while she was there, she thought she was Liv."

"And yes," Olivia says, sounding defiant, "she was involved with Lincoln and Charlie. Her fiancé," she adds almost as an afterthought, "was out of town."

Peter snorts a little. "Small favors." His eyes narrow, and then he waves his hand like he's shooing away an unpleasant thought. "You know what? I think we should just agree that all previous indiscretions are in a different timeline and no longer relevant."

 **Peter's thinking: _huh, all that shit over Liv_ \--not that it's an equivalent situation at all, and he knows it-- _and Olivia never said a word about this._ (In, granted, the five seconds they had together at the end of s3. :p) I knew I'd written myself into a little bit of a corner about that and it needed to be addressed, for my own satisfaction of "full disclosure" if no one else's. **

It's code again, and Lincoln is sick of being left out. Maybe in Peter's world people sit calmly on couches and discuss threesomes, but Lincoln is still trying to catch up with the chaos of the last few days and the way things between the three of them have fallen out. Unsettled, undefined, and that's--that's exactly the problem here.

"Not sure what I'm supposed to be agreeing to," Lincoln finally cuts in, more acerbic than he intends. Or maybe not nearly acerbic enough. "Obviously you two have some things to work out--"

"The three of us do," Peter interrupts, and Olivia nods her agreement. "You're just as much a part of this as we are."

Lincoln remembers thinking that Peter had presumed a lot in asking him to move into a house that wasn't his. That wasn't even the smallest part of Peter's nerve, apparently. But if they actually _mean_ it....

"Think I missed that memo," Lincoln manages, hating the uncertainty in his own voice. There are words that won't come out and emotions too big for words and he feels like they're all on the edge of a precipice. "Olivia, I...."

"Oh," she says, and crosses the room to him. Olivia kneels in front of the couch, her hands folding around his, which he hadn't realized were balled into fists. "Oh, Lincoln, I never said I love you and I should have, I--"

 **A total "oh, shit!" moment writing that, and I hope it was the same reading it. Because they're both romantically inept and poor Lincoln, he was so uncertain of where he stood with Olivia before this moment and here she is talking about a threesome.**

 **Olivia's come to love him a lot, she depends on him. Lincoln really did win her love, all on his own.**

 **You know that up to this point that Lincoln was figuring it was Peter and Olivia keeping him around either out of compassion or just for sex. That it’s where Olivia realizes she hasn’t said what needs be said.**

It's like a dam breaking as he leans down and kisses her, and kisses her, and she kisses him back. In between he's whispering the only words that matter, and she's whispering them back, and he can definitely be excused for the tears in his eyes because they're in Olivia's too.

 **This is still making my throat close up.**

Nothing in the world exists but her, except for the other man now standing at the edge of Lincoln's awareness. When they break apart Peter's smiling, the crinkles around his eyes attesting to his honest pleasure in watching them--along with an expression of dawning revelation. "Oh, hell, you guys hadn't-- shit, I wouldn't have joked. 'livia, Linc, I thought we were all on the same page."

 **Of course Peter had assumed they'd made their declarations--he's seen them together. He should have remembered how long it took him and Olivia to get to the same point.**

 **Yeah, but Peter’s always had issues in extrapolating.**

"Same shelf, maybe," Lincoln says unsteadily,

 **Oh, Lincoln!**

but he's finally hearing the foreshortened version of his name for the endearment it is, and thinking about the way Peter's been using it for weeks.

If there had been any question about Peter's feelings toward him, that kiss had answered them. But, Lincoln realizes almost ludicrously after the fact, there had never actually been a question. He'd been working with Peter, living with him, for just about the same length of time he'd been seeing Olivia. They ate together, sat on the couch and threw insults and Nerf bricks at the tv together, went shopping for groceries together. He'd never become indifferent to Peter's presence, not once, for all that they spent virtually every waking hour together.

 **Of course I’m not suggesting that all roommates end up with UST but they STARTED with a seriously slashy vibe, come on....**

Those hours not spent with Peter had been Olivia's, and he can't imagine life without either of them anymore.

 **This is also, if I recall correctly without mark-up mode, which I don't want in my free time, thankyouverymuch, something new; it highlights that this really is not about 3 individual pairings but, how do the kids say these days? An OT3.**

Lincoln pulls Olivia up and onto his lap, because he can't stand not to be touching her. She goes willingly, settling in with a smile. "All this is well and good in theory, but...you're sure about this? Both of you?"

"Not sure about anything," Olivia says, and if he didn't love her already, Lincoln's smitten again by the fact that she doesn't conceal her own doubts.

Peter, predictably, doesn't share their hesitation. "We rewrote the _universe_ for each other, 'livia, I'm not scared of...one bespectacled nerd." Peter really is laughing now, deliberately provoking.

 **‘Rith included that description of Linc in the original draft and it just leapt off the page at me as perfect, since those same spectacles are where we first see that Peter has _feeeeeeeeeeeeeeeelings_ about his Lincoln. **

"Said nerd, sitting right here." Lincoln reaches out to brush a strand of hair out of Olivia's face. "I feel like...we just found each other. I don't know why I should share you with anyone." That's in the ballpark, but not exactly what he'd meant to say; it's not entirely his call, and Peter isn't just anyone.

Olivia tilts her head and considers Peter solemnly. "Well...he's not _too_ ugly," she offers, and it's her tone that makes the comment anything but outrageous.

Peter doesn't have any such reservation. "Oh, fuck you both." He leans in and kisses Olivia, inches away from Lincoln's face, and Lincoln's both astonished and delighted to discover that he's not feeling even the slightest jealous twinge. It's crazy and possibly might get them all evicted from polite society but it's not like polite society has anything to do with their line of work, anyway. Peter pulls back and adds, "Seriously, I want to fuck you both."

 **Peter is crude on purpose to break the tension, so he does it more than usual, with these two.**

Olivia thwaps the back of his head. "And you kiss me with that mouth. No, wait. Kiss Lincoln with that mouth, I want to watch."

 **Olivia's brain is flashing the "NOW KISS!!!" graphic.**

 **Whose brain isn’t?**

And Peter does with Olivia right there, stubble scratching at his split lip and Lincoln's going to have a permanent scar if this keeps up. He's breathless by the time Peter stops, and Olivia on his lap isn't helping. Or is, depending on your point of view. "Oh, hey, Peter."

"Yeah?"

"I like you too. A little bit."

Peter pauses and seems to think about that. "Good enough. For now. We'll work on it."

 **Hee. I liked that exchange. You know: guys.**

 **Don't you love how this is an instruction manual on how to make a threesome work out?**

 **What: communicate, communicate, communicate?**

Olivia laughs again. "You guys. Like a comedy routine. Peter, come on, tell him how you feel."

Peter rolls his eyes. "I have to? He's wearing the glasses I bought for him. What did you think that was, Linc, a slap on the back?"

 ***stares at canon***

"Yeah, I got that," he says while Olivia shakes her head in mock disgust, but all banter aside what they're talking about hits him hard. "I-- you really think this can work? I, I see you two are meant to be together but I'm...."

The interloper, he doesn't say. He feels like he's about to dissolve into a very unmanly puddle when Peter rescues the moment, as he does. "You know, technically, you've probably dated Olivia longer than I did."

Olivia looks quizzical. "'Technically'?"

"Oh, it's story time. All right." Peter slides onto the couch next to Lincoln, pulling Olivia's legs over his lap and draping his arm around Lincoln's shoulders. "There was always something keeping us apart, remember?" Lincoln knows the recap is for his benefit, but that's fine; it'll give him a chance to find his equilibrium.

 **"And now I will pause to explicate the characters' history for you!" I do this a lot in fic, not always for a relevant purpose. But here I really wanted to get across the point that Olivia and Peter weren't together all that long. We think of them being a couple since season 2, but while the feelings were there, all we got was an interrupted kiss, and then Peter going to the other universe with Walternate, and most of season 3 with Olivia in Liv's life and then they had to work out the stuff about Liv, so...point is, and I did kind of have one, Lincoln and Olivia have been dating in this fic longer than Olivia and Peter in canon.**

"I might recall," Olivia says dryly. "I had to chase you to the alternate universe to tell you I loved you. And then...."

"Then things got complicated," Peter says, and they exchange a glance full of meaning Lincoln still doesn't have the code to decipher. "When Olivia came back, there were... _things_ to work through." There's obviously a longer story there that neither of them wants to revisit. "So--Linc, seriously, it's like a comedy of errors--we make it through all that, and finally get together, and then...."

 **Again, Peter never told Lincoln about Liv-in-Olivia's shoes and Olivia's not about to tear open old wounds either.**

"William Bell," Olivia says, and groans.

"William Bell," Peter confirms, " _hijacked_ Olivia's consciousness from beyond the grave. --no, not a ghost, just a diabolical contingency plan," he adds to Lincoln's stare. "That was the same time I met you."

"The Dana Gray case," Lincoln murmurs, and everything snaps into place. He shifts Olivia on his lap, pulling her closer. "So _that's_ why you were so weird."

"No, Olivia's always weird." She sticks her tongue out at Peter, and he smirks. "But yeah, during that case you were talking to Bell, not her."

 ***laughs* I like Peter and Olivia snarking lovingly at each other. Their dynamic is very different than Olivia and Lincoln's, which feels a little more traditionally romantic (for a given value of "traditional," with this show.) That helps differentiate them.**

 **And it’s different from Peter and Lincoln’s, even though there’s an equal amount of snark – Peter seems to know to keep it to a lower level with Lincoln.**

"And after he was gone and everything seemed like we might actually have some time for ourselves, that's when the machine fired up." Olivia's frowning slightly, like she's working it through. "You created the bridge room and between one second and the next, you were gone and everything had been rewritten. So I think you're right, Peter. We worked together for three years, but the time we were really together wasn't very much at all."

"Yeah. Except...I never got a chance to tell you about this." Peter takes her hands, and then after a moment reaches to gather Lincoln's in too. He tells her about the fifteen years, with enough detail that there's no doubting he lived it. Olivia pulls him close when he's done, her forehead touching his.

"We'll have that again."

"Better," Peter says firmly, drawing back to look into her eyes, and then Lincoln's. "Because this world isn't dying like that one was. But Lincoln, if you're thinking there isn't room for you...I promise, there is. I said I didn't want to lose you, and I meant it."

"Me too," Olivia says, and kisses Lincoln again. When she draws back, though, her eyes have gone wide. "How am I going to explain this to Rachel?"

 **Ha. Olivia's conveniently disappearing sister. I keep bouncing back and forth between "Rachel is horrified" and "Rachel thinks it's hot." ("Rachel is wildly jealous" figures into either of those, especially given she had an almost-moment with Peter herself.) Ella, once she's old enough to get it, is cool with Aunt Liv and her two boyfriends. Or, by that point, Olivia's husband and their boyfriend. ;)**

Peter snorts."I'm sure Walter will have some wildly inappropriate commentary, too. But maybe we should hold off, at least until Lincoln looks a little less freaked out."

"Might take a while," Lincoln mutters, and tries to get his head in the right space. "This is _crazy,_ you both know that, right?"

 **Shows how long he’s been in Fringe division, if this is his metric for crazy.**

Peter looks thoughtful. "Not so sure. I'm the last person to talk about fate...or maybe I should be the first. Depends how you look at it. But if you think your alternates really do mirror you in the ways that count...." he spreads his hands, like the point is self-evident.

 **I was very happy with this parallel. As one universe goes, so goes the other. *nods* It's not exact, of course; Peter isn't very much like Charlie. But the Olivia/Lincoln base pairing is flexible.**

"I'm not so sure about _that,_ " Olivia says, her expression indecipherable. "But I saw how happy they were and I just... I can't..." she stops, looking almost embarrassed, then goes on. "I don't want to choose between you."

"I don't want you to, either," Lincoln says, and not only because he's still convinced--despite Olivia's and Peter's assurances--that he'd end up with the short end of that stick. Maybe they can convince him otherwise, in time. But right now it's--

 **Aaaaa, didn't want to write the bit about Lincoln feeling like the odd man out but--he still is, honestly, at this moment. The triangle does reach equilibrium, but not instantaneously.**

He glances at the clock and nearly laughs out loud: 3:15 p.m., and time seems to have slowed to a crawl. But this time, for entirely different reasons. And he hasn't yet made his opinion clear. "I said it was crazy. But I want to try anyway. I think...." he looks at Olivia on his lap, Peter warm against his side. "We got here through alternate timelines and alternate universes, and that can't be an accident. I think this is where we're meant to be."

 **Dawww. *g***

 **And that last bit was also rewritten upon my remark that a more Fringe-flavoured framing of that last sentence would work better. This does, as the whole fic -- and does it ever!**

 **I love that ‘Rith brings it back, with the time referent, and re-framed it in a Fringe-y feel, without making it heavy-handed or overly “here, conclusion! ::thwack::”**

{end}

 **Lots of room for side-explorations and addendums to this fic: any and all are welcome, should anyone care to use it as a starting place. I'd be thrilled. :)**

  



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